


Prairie Fire

by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered



Series: Several General Danvers AUs in Tiny Hors D'oeuvre Form [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 03:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19243120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered/pseuds/DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered
Summary: An Old West AU in which Alex is a Star Route Carrier for the US Postal Service and Astra is a lady bandit.





	Prairie Fire

Alex squinted at the darkening clouds.It would not be her preference to drive these horses through the elements when she had a coach full of parcels from the St. Mary’s mission. Doubtless at least one of those parcels contained legal tender fit to purchase a month’s provisions for the convent from the Cascade General Store. For a bunch of nuns, they ate hearty.

The Missouri River in this stretch of Montana bent around on itself in a horseshoe at the foot of the purple mountains and she could cut time by going off the river path entirely and cutting through that pass in the foothills.It was a risk, as that pass could contain bandits or Cheyennes, both of which would raid her coach, or try. But Shotgun Alex was called Shotgun Alex because she carried two, and wasn’t afraid of the quicker road home.

The winds were restless in the tall, gaunt pines that encroached the path. The two lean, knotted roans, Rooster and Pharoah, respectively, weren’t pleased at pulling the small coach along such stony trails with so much up and down. They could complain if they liked. Alex was getting the whole lot back to Cascade before the sky opened up.

She glanced up, checking to see whether Gabriel was following above. She didn’t see his shape against the black clouds, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

The path took a bend up ahead, and Alex knotted the reins around her one hand, and wrapped the other hand around one of her shotguns. The other rested beside her in the box where she sat perched, watching the road. Bends in the path were exactly where a band of road agents might like to lie in wait.

She took the turn with shotgun pointed toward the sky.She knew they were there before she came fully round the bend.

They sat, three across on black stallions, riders with black hats drawn low over their faces. It was a woman in the lead, she could tell. All three had pistols drawn. Lady bandits weren’t an everyday affair, but she’d heard tell of a few from time to time. She drew the coach up short and cocked the shotgun with one hand.

“The good Lord ain’t so fond of killin’,” she called out to them calmly, “but the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t seem to feel one way or the other about it.”

The lady bandit lifted her hat and stared at Alex, piercing eyes in a tanned face.A wild beauty, if there ever was one. “Bold of you to make threats, ma’am. We’ve got you a little outnumbered,” the lady bandit pointed out. Alex noticed a long, dark braid running down, tossed over her left shoulder. A little feather tied in the end. A little streak of silver winding through the plaits.

Alex wound the reins around the knob at the front of the box, and picked up the other shotgun. “There’s three of you, and I’ve got two of these. I don’t expect you know my name, but I’ve never been successfully robbed one time, and I’ve been riding the Star Route from Cascade to St. Mary’s for two years now.”

The woman’s eyes twinkled now. “Shotgun Alex. Well ain’t it my lucky day."

Alex gave a grim smile in reply. “I reckon you have me at a disadvantage, then.”

The lady bandit tipped her hat politely. “They call me Prairie Fire.”

Alex nodded. She’d heard the name. “You’ve done a good deal of damage to the Star Routes in Southern Montana. Ain’t you got a Christian name?”

Prairie Fire smirked. “I ain’t a Christian.”

“I’d hate to shoot you knowing nothing but a nickname.”

“It ain’t a nickname. It’s my Cheyenne name.”

Hm. “You don’t look like an In’jin.”

Prairie Fire shrugged. “My mama was Cheyenne. Daddy was a white man.” Thunder rolled from somewhere just past the hills. “It seems we’ve got a bit of weather coming in. I’d sure love to wrap up this affair before it does.”

Alex cocked the other shotgun. “Well then, I suggest you move aside, ma’am.”

Prairie Fire grinned. “What’d the U.S. Postal Service ever do for you?”

“It ain’t a question of that. I gave my bond that the contents of this coach would reach Cascade unmolested. It’s a matter of honor.”At this moment, a shriek came from behind and above, an otherworldly sound. Alex smiled. Gabriel, the bald eagle that made himself comfortable on her shoulder oftentimes, descended from the dark clouds above and settled, with a flurry of rustling wing feathers, on the railing of the box, next to where she sat.

This seemed to give the lady bandit pause.

“The bird knows you.”

Alex nodded. “You might say so.”

Gabriel spread his massive wings again, and soared gently across to where the lady bandit sat on her glowering black stallion, circling her a few times, inspecting her.The lady bandit extended her free hand, and the eagle settled on it for a moment. Alex saw Prairie Fire wince as the talons wrapped around her arm and dug in.They shared a meaningful look.Then he came back to her.

Thunder grumbled more loudly this time.

The bandit looked up at the dark sky. “I hate to rush through a robbery,” she said easily. Alex found her charm irritating.But the woman glanced at her two compatriots.“Boys, move aside.”

“Annie,” one of them began to protest, “if you let her by, I will shoot her on general principle–”

“Shoot her on general principle, and then I will shoot you right here, on Hangman’s Ridge,” the woman shot back. “I said move aside.” 

Alex frowned. She didn’t buy any of it. “You’re just gonna let me by?”

Prairie Fire –Annie, the man had called her– smiled at her. “I told you, I don’t like rushing a robbery.” She gestured at the sky with her pistol. “This weather would necessitate that we step lively, and I feel I oughta buy you a whiskey first, at the very least.”

Alex glanced at the sky and then back at her. “Yeah, well, they don’t let women in the saloon in Cascade, except me.”

Prairie Fire winked at her. “Maybe you can put in a good word for me.”

The bandits’ horses moved aside off the narrow, rocky path, and without waiting for them to change their minds, Alex laid down one of her shotguns, spurred the horses, and took off toward town, followed by the eagle trailing above her.She would just barely make Cascade before the sky broke.


End file.
